Sabian Symbols: Group who have overeaten and enjoyed it

Cancer 15 (14° - 15°)

APPROPRIATE ENJOYMENT OF MATERIAL ABUNDANCEThough it carries obvious risks of greedy attachments, the enjoyment of material abundance is a valid spiritual principle

In Sufism it is taught that each plane of existence has its own special mystery; the mystery of the Earth Plane is abundance. Whereas the attachment to material wealth is counterproductive to the true seeker, it is the attachment that is the problem not the abundance itself. Attachment to austerity is no better. It is known that all life is a reflection of our inner condition and when we have reached a high spiritual station we are able to experience material abundance if we choose to.​Rudhyar: IN A SUMPTUOUS DINING HALL GUESTS RELAX AFTER PARTAKING OF A HUGE BANQUET

In a sumptuous dining hall guests relax after partaking of a huge banquet

Satiety

There is no spiritual principle that disavows prosperity

The image of a group of people enjoying a well-earned banquet indicates richness and fullness to the point of satiety – satisfaction. How rarely is this the experience for most people, who create for themselves a sense of lack, envy towards the ‘haves’ and self-victimisation in the ranks of the ‘have-nots’. There is no spiritual principle that creates poverty, none that disclaims prosperity – yet by the billions, people are given to deny themselves luxury and fulfilment as though the only way to God is through suffering and want. The reverse is true, at least when tempered by a healthy moderation.

Each life experience is a validation of individuality. We can rest assured that we are who we are and that is the consistent, entirely dependable, fact of material existence. We are not the same as anyone else, and so no-one else’s life experience is the same as ours. Inherent within this statement there is the promise that, whatever we become as we unfold further potentials, life will match us step by step all the way. We get what we are – all of it and nothing else.

Life is nothing more than – and, importantly, nothing less than – the richness of expression of who we are, and who we are becoming. Whatever else it may be, life is a full-on intensity of experiences.​One way to see this is that we get what we deserve – our efforts are rewarded in full and fair measure. Thus we are able effectively to create a smooth demonstration in our circumstances of our degree of competence.

The events and situations of the future cannot exist except as an unfolding of the foundation we build now through our skills and knowledge. Who we are is like a table, upon which is built whatever comes to pass. This platform extends the realms of potential in certain directions as much as it limits it in other ways. Ironically, we are constrained to be expansive towards self-realisation.

There are penalties for those who resist or distort this condition of life – by either trying lazily or fearfully to freeze the present, or by permitting unrealistic or unecological self-indulgence of base appetites. Our environment is an aspect of who we are and it must be taken fully into account.

There is no survival strategy, nor creative richness of joy that is based on inadequacy. When we learn to accept that failure is not an option or indeed even an aspect of reality, then the final blocks to success are removed.